High Velocity
by Glitter Angel
Summary: Juuban Middle School is attacked by armed gunman. Usagi, Minako, Ami and Makoto face a cruel reality when not even their superhero selves can save them from the horror they face.
1. Prologue

High Velocity

Prologue

Usagi sat in algebra class, bored to death. Outside, the sun shone brightly against a pale blue sky. How she wished she could be out there, a chocolate ice cream cone in each hand, enjoying the wonderful weather. Instead, she was stuck in HERE, where nothing even remotely interested her, and worse, where there was no food. She couldn't wait until lunch when she could joke around with Minako, Makoto, and Ami over lasagna…

* * *

Home Economics class was always a blast for Makoto. She happily stirred a bowl of cake mix as the sweet aroma of her fresh batch of brownies sifted through the air. She made a mental note to hide some in her book bag in a place where Usagi couldn't find them, because Usagi knew after Home Ec, Mako-chan always kept some samples. 'Just for once', Makoto thought, 'I'd like to get a chance to taste some of my own food…'

* * * 

Minako didn't especially LIKE Physical Science Honors, but she sure did have her eyes set on the new teacher. 'He must have to go confession every day,' she mumbled lazily, 'coz it must be some sort of SIN to be that fine…'

"Miss Minako?"

She snapped her head up, noticing that she had just drooled over her anatomy of the heart workbook. Her teacher looked over her amusingly.

"And for your information, Miss Minako," he said to the class, "I go to Church every Sunday." The rest of the room laughed as Minako buried herself in her workbook, blushing furiously.

* * * 

The library's calmness usually soothed Ami's soul. The endless cases of books, filled with knowledge, just waiting to be opened, always caught Ami's twinkling eyes in anticipation.

But not today.

Today was different.

She picked up a book and flipped through it repeatidly, barely glimpsing at the pages. Something was in the air, and it unnerved her.

Something was going to happen.

A/N: Much more in chapters to follow. Hope everyone likes how the prologue has come ^_^


	2. Smile

High Velocity

The bell rang through the halls, and suddenly the once silent corridors were filled with a flurry of blue skirts and black uniforms. Usagi worked her way through the crowded hallways, eager for her lunch. She was also anticipating Makoto's usual hidden treats from Home Economics. Brownies never tasted as good as they did after a rather unappetizing math class.

Usagi spotted Makoto's head bobbing slightly above the crowd, followed by Minako's telltale red ribbon which was planted firmly into her long, golden hair. She didn't see Ami, and figured she was still at the library, probably taking yet another lunch period to be another thirty two chapters ahead of her classes. Usagi was dizzy just thinking of all the work.

Makoto shifted her bag to her other hand as she saw Usagi eyeing it voraciously. The sweet aroma of chocolate and walnuts sifted weakly from a small crack in her bag, and she closed it promptly, praying that Usagi's unusually extraordinary dog-like sense of smell wouldn't pick up on her secret.

"Hey, Mako. How was your last class?" Usagi's eyes glittered impatiently.

Makoto smiled sickeningly sweet. "Oh, fine, but I don't think you would really want to know what we did…" Makoto walked along slowly and mischievously.

Usagi narrowed her eyes and whined. "I wanna know what you DID, Mako!" She licked her lips and felt her stomach growl.

Makoto licked her lips. "Deeeelicious. First, we took out the frog's intestines, tied off the fat deposits, and then wrenched out the heart and tried not to spill too much of the guts on the floor because, you know, it gets slippery." Usagi's face had turned a nauseating shade of pale green as Mako walked along happily and Minako snickered quietly.

The three reached the large cafeteria, filled with hungry students and boisterous chatter from all sides. Usagi grabbed a tray and, obviously unaffected from Makoto's gruesome scene, began to fill her plate with junk food. Minako happily chattered to her out-of-her-mind self as she picked up sushi rolls, salad and miscellaneous items. Makoto picked up a soda and sat down, pulling her hidden treats out of her bag.

Usagi and Minako joined Makoto at the table, and they started into a long talk.

Usagi gobbled down her junk food as Minako relived her horrible class period with Makoto, who nodded sympathetically.

"I mean, I nearly choked up a lung or something!" Minako took a long swig from her soda, and then sighed. "But he's oh-so-dreamy, though…" She smiled crazily as Makoto looked at her like she had spoken Greek.

"Dreamy? Who the hell uses THAT word anymore?" Makoto laughed and threw a piece of brownie at Minako's hair. Minako looked shocked, then giggled and retaliated with a carrot stick flung at Mako's eye.

Usagi suddenly interrupted. "Guys, TOO MUCH GOOD FOOD IS GOING TO WASTE!" She picked up a soggy piece of mashed brownie with pieces of Minako's hair stuck through it and gobbled it down. Mako and Minako winced.

"Sick, Usagi-chan, just sick…" Minako gagged, pulling pieces of food out of her hair.

A loud clang from behind interrupted the silly chatter, as both large cafeteria doors were flung open with mighty force.

--------------------

A/N: Ah! What will happen? Check back on the third chapter of "High Velocity", soon! ^.-


	3. Run

High Velocity

Minako snapped her head back, startled at the sudden noise. The talking in the cafeteria ceased, and heads turned toward the now gaping door near the Senshi's table.

Usagi narrowed her eyes, an odd and twisting feeling resting itself low into her chest, twirling and rolling with the escalating beats of her heart. The small thought of where Ami was rushed into her head, and she darted her sapphire eyes over to Makoto's mystified emerald ones.

Makoto could faintly hear screaming and a strange popping noise. The cafeteria was silent, but a few students quickly edged themselves out through a side door. Makoto saw what they were doing and rose from her seat quickly, keeping her eye on the door, and grabbed Usagi sharply by the shirt collar.

The noise was getting closer now, and the rest of the cafeteria was standing, slowly pushing themselves toward the alternative opening away from the room. Then, a few broke into a run, and Makoto gathered her friends and followed their pace, the open door echoing firecracker-like sounds that unnerved each of those in the room.

Suddenly, the cause of the noise was revealed, as a blur of black and silver ran into the cafeteria. Shrieks rose high into the air as everyone tried to funnel themselves out as quickly as they could.

Minako, Usagi and Makoto weren't quite sure what was going on. Students still at the tables pulled themselves under. Usagi glanced to the side and saw one fall, and a trickle of blood fall from his head.

Makoto looked over at the frozen Usagi, at Minako, and then at the fallen student. An instinct she didn't know she possessed pulled at her soul, and before she knew it, she was pulling Minako and Usagi deftly and swiftly through the shrieking and trembling swarm of students. Bullets ricocheted above their heads, and the tiny doorway wasn't enough to pull all of the students through. Next to Minako, a student fell, covered in blood, staining her school uniform with tiny drops of blood.

* * *

Ami could hear the shrieks rolling off of the hallways. Her breath was short and shallow, her thoughts a mere blur in her head. Confused students stood from their studies in the capacious library, mumbling to each other that it must be some sort of joke.

A giant clang confirmed each of their fears, as a girl with blood staining her blouse ran into the library, screaming.

"Get down! Get down! He's coming this way! Whatever you do, get down and hide!"

Ami was pushed downward by her friend Miya, who shuddered beneath the long, wooden table.

"Miya, what's going on? I mean, that girl…she had blood on her…her face…" Ami turned pale. "What about Makoto…Minako…and Usagi? Oh, my God…"

The screams were nearer now, and hurried footsteps rang against the hallway floors between the cafeteria and the library. If this was what Ami thought it was, she wanted out of this bad dream.

Now.

---------

A/N: What happens next? Will Usagi, Minako and Makoto make it out of the cafeteria safely? Is anyone really safe in Juuban Middle School at this point? Find out in the fourth chapter of High Velocity ^.-


	4. Cry

High Velocity

The silence in the library was thickening. Ami wondered if the beating of her heart could be heard. It was deafening, ringing through her ears, blurring her thoughts, cluttering her mind with images, useless images that didn't relate or make any sense…

The loud sound hurled her from her thoughts. Someone was stepping along the tables, shooting a gun into the air. Ami put her fingers into her mouth and bit them. Her breath seemed more like it was strangling her with each labored breath. She tasted blood and realized that she had bit on her fingers so hard that she had broken skin.

The gunman's feet stopped at the side of Ami's table and grabbed Miya's shoulder. The girl had tears streaked down her face, and didn't meet his eyes, as if he had slapped her across the mouth. The gun slid down and with a loud pop, Miya lay on the floor in a growing pool of blood. Ami simply stared at the body of her friend, and then began to scream.

* * *

Makoto ran down the hall, dragging Usagi behind her. She had gotten out of the cafeteria. Out. Free. Now where?

Where?

Minako was lost in the squirming press of students. The gunman had moved off to another side of the school, but he could be lurking in the halls. This thought dully entered Makoto's brain, and then flitted away again.

"Ma…Makoto…"

"What?" Makoto looked about, holding her friend for dear life.

"What are we going to do? Oh, Minako! MINAKO! And AMI, Mako, AMI! Where ARE they? Oh God…God…" Usagi began to break down, falling onto her knees and burying her face in her hands. Her locket fell from her bow and landed with a clatter on the floor beside her. Usagi felt around for it and picked it up, grasping it as if it may be able to save her from the insanity around her.

Makoto tried to hold on to her thoughts, but they left her. She could see her parents, their smiling faces, their beckoning hands, her friends, the fights they had been through…..Ami, Rei, Usagi, Minako…..did it all come down to this? To be simply struck down and forgotten as you drowned in your blood and the blackness and the reality of no future?

Then death came rounding the corner.

Usagi looked up and shrieked. She stood, and lifted her legs to run. The gunman raised his weapon and shot, pulling Usagi back to the ground. Her arm fell out and the locket clattered loosely from her fingers, cracked round the pearly edges.

Makoto screamed out of anger and anguish. She grasped at Usagi, screaming and crying, Usagi's blood spilling over Makoto's hands and onto her school skirt. Makoto began to shriek and yell, her shrieks turning to sobs that wrenched through her body and shook her very being. Her cries for help echoed across the empty corridors, with no one to comfort her.

"Our future….our future."

Makoto reached over and picked up the locket and held it close, trying the hardest she had ever done to feel the presence and essence of Usagi, the Princess of the Moon, who was fading like the stars in the sky.

-------------------

A/N: Where's Minako? How will each of the Senshi handle this? Find out in the next chapter of High Velocity! Also, on a silly artistic note, I've been listening to "Ave Maria" by Charlotte Church while writing this story, and it gives it a very good effect, especially in this chapter. Sort of a little soundtrack, if I should say. It gives it a nice touch, and it's classical, so it's fairly easy to listen to while reading. Just a thought ^_^


	5. Break

High Velocity

Minako ran. Fear compelled her to go on, to pull on, but inside of her, it was almost as if she were being tugged in the other direction.

As if something happened and she was supposed to be there.

She burst out of a side door and was met with the azure blue sky. The cool, clean air filled her lungs and she gasped, inhaled, as if she had been underwater for hours. Reporters roamed the school grounds, students were everywhere, police and emergency teams were rushing about…it was truly a nightmare.

Minako stopped and took in the scene. Her classmates, bloody and unmoving, were being pulled out of the school on stretchers. Her body shuddered, and thoughts raced like fire in and out of her mind.

'This isn't supposed to happen. This isn't supposed to happen. THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TO ME! THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN TO ME!'

The thoughts traveled from her mind, and left her head blank. Thinking was too much of a chore anymore. Nothing was logical. Nothing fit. Everything was distorted.

Overwhelmed, Minako fell to the ground, helpless and worn.

* * * 

Ami crept out of the library, hearing the sounds of the police through the corridors. Miya's body still lay in the pool of blood beneath the library desk. After she was shot, Ami began to scream, but a classmate crawled beneath the tables and clasped his hand firmly over her mouth.

A police officer led her put of the school building and into the open air where Ami saw classmates rushing around crying, sobbing, some on stretchers, and some….Ami shuddered to even think that horrible thought.

"Ami! Oh God.." Ami turned to see Rei rushing toward her. Rei and Ami clutched each other in the middle of the street among the chaos. Tears fell from Rei's eyes as she grasped Ami. Ami thought back to Miya's still form, lying in the empty library, and of Makoto, Minako and Usagi. She grasped Rei tighter, and then stood back.

"Do you know where Makoto, Usagi and Minako are?" Concern permeated from Rei's coal black eyes. "They say the shooting started from the cafeteria.."

"N-no...I was in the library and I think they were at lunch. Oh God! What if...what if...." Ami faltered.

Rei's coal black eyes became distant, and her face pale. She usually got premonitions, but ot get one at this moment, in the middle of all this...

"Something's wrong..." Rei's silvery voice sent chills up Ami's spine.

"What do you mean…wrong?"

"I mean...something...happened...it's like...there's this emptiness..."

Rei staggered back, and shook her head, dropping out of the strange, trance-like state. She looked over to see Minako being put on a stretcher, and ran to the side of it. Ami simply stood there, stunned, as her ears caught the words of a TV news reporter.

"We aren't very sure, but of the verified deaths there are fifteen; some of those being students Miya Fujitama, Miki Shabiyara, Usagi Tsukino…"

Ami turned pale as the world began to crumble.

-----------------------

A/N: How will this be dealt with? What more is there to come? Chapter six of High Velocity is on its way! ^_^


	6. Ave Maria

High Velocity

Minako awoke. The bright, stark whiteness of the hospital room frightened her. She felt heavy; her whole body felt as if it had been put underneath some sort of great burden. Her legs ached, her head ached, her very soul seemed to scream out in agony.

She tried to lift her body, but failed, and fell back to her pillow in defeat. Ami sat on the side of the bed, and reached out her hand. Her face was red, indicating that she had been crying for awhile.

Minako's eyes met Ami's. A sort of understanding went between the two.

"….no." Minako's frail voice echoed through the tiny room.

Ami nodded slowly, her eyes welling up with more tears.

Minako's voice cracked. "N-no…no…no…no.." She reached over to her purse, which had been placed on a table beside her bed. She dug her henshin pen out and grasped it with shaking hands. It slowly broke into a million tiny fragments at her touch and ceased to exist.

Feeling overwhelmed her, and Ami leaned over and comforted her shrieking, disbelieving friend. Minako's fingernails dug sharply into Ami's back, as to hold on to one of her last remaining best friends.

Minako shook and cried, until she fell asleep. Sweet angelic music filtered through her head, violins, harps, flutes, all in perfect harmony.

_"Ave Maria, ave, ave maria…."_

* * *

Makoto layed in the darkness of her apartment. Mamoru had driven her home and made sure that she was okay, but Makoto was more worried for his safety. The news struck him unbelievably hard, and he had been silent and staring the entire ride home. Emptiness set inside both of them, and the harsh reality of a bleak future followed.

Makoto closed her eyes. She felt as if she was dying; Usagi, screaming, falling to the floor; her own screams, ringing in her ears, shrieking, yelling, cries for help; the unnerving stillness of Usagi on the cool hallway floor; her locket, which Makoto had grasped and slipped silently into her pocket when the police came and pried her from Usagi's unmoving form.

She opened her eyes quickly, breathing hard, and let the tears fall from her eyes. She shook, not from lack of warmth, but from fear. Nothing was okay anymore.

She thought of Chibusa; how she was never to be, the sweet, candy-colored child of Usagi and Mamoru's dreams, was never to live. The future Moon Kingdom was in ruins, sharp, crystal shards as deadly as daggers flew through Makoto's frightened mind.

Her henshin pen was in pieces, one more reminder of the life yet to come. Evil ones could now do as they wished to the earth; it was no longer able to be saved.

Makoto curled into a ball and pulled the covers loosely over her shoulders. Sleep came, and flung her down an endless corridor of nightmares and horrors of the past day.

The Senshi's broken souls moved as one sorrowful force that night, sorrow in the deepest depths of despair of things that would never come.

---------------------

A/N: Oh, and now we reach the end! I thank everyone for the overwhelming feedback I have gotten and am still getting. I'm thinking of writing a sequel; I'm not too sure yet, but one could definitely be in the works. I got the idea a few days before the actual shooting in Santee, California, which I think was a terrible, terrible tragedy. No one needs to go through such sorrow as a school shooting. Thanks everyone, and most probably look out for High Velocity II! ^.~


End file.
